This invention relates to desktop publishing (DTP). Many fonts are used in DTP. Sometimes, two or more fonts are selected from the available fonts to create and edit a composite font. For example, DTP based on the Japanese language uses different fonts: a first font used for kanji or kana and a second font used for Roman text or symbols. In such DTP systems, it is preferable to combine the first font and the second font to create a new composite font.
In conventional composite font editing for creating and editing a composite font a number of existing fonts can be selected to create a composite font. Sample text can be displayed with the created composite font in a sample window. However, for a composite font edited in this way, a user cannot accurately and easily determine whether or not the multiple component fonts of which the composite font is constituted are aligned as desired. Conventionally, a composite font editor is started and a composite font is created. The alignment status of the component fonts can be determined only after the composite font editor finishes and text is displayed using the created composite font in an electronic document.
For example, if a user wants to set the individual baselines of a first font and a second font so that they are offset from one another by exactly a desired size, the composite font editor must be started and the relative positional relationship between the fonts must be corrected. The composite font editor must then be stopped and the text displayed using the corrected composite font in an electronic document so that the user can judge the relative positional relationship of the first and second fonts. Also, if the corrected relative positional relationship is not satisfactory, a user must start the composite font editor again and make corrections, then stop the composite font editor and display text using the corrected composite font in an electronic document. This process is repeated until a satisfactory relative positional relationship has been obtained. Repeatedly starting and stopping the composite font editor in this manner makes the editing operation very troublesome and takes time.